The guy is on a 5 fight winning streak, whilst the Boetsch fight left a bad taste in my mouth I definitely think he deserves to be seen as a contender at this point.

I don't argue he's seen as a contender. But like you mentioned... he beat Boetsch (who was incredibly overrated) and nobody else of significance. Actually... Rockhold might be a good fight even though he's coming off a loss.

I don't argue he's seen as a contender. But like you mentioned... he beat Boetsch (who was incredibly overrated) and nobody else of significance. Actually... Rockhold might be a good fight even though he's coming off a loss.

Same thing was said about Weidman and look how that turned out. I think Costa presents a lot of problems for some middleweight "contenders". He is definitely deserving of a fight with Vitor.

Costa should fight Le, Belfort should fight Mousasi. Only hiccups are if they have Le coach TUF (not sure who the opposing coach would be) and/or if Mousasi's injury keeps him out longer than expected.

Same thing was said about Weidman and look how that turned out. I think Costa presents a lot of problems for some middleweight "contenders". He is definitely deserving of a fight with Vitor.

I'd disagree there. Vitor's way above him. Someone like Rockhold is more comparable to his stature, even coming off a loss.

I don't think the Weidman comparison is accurate in this case. Phillipou has been beaten, while Weidman has not. He has one victory over a questionable contender. Weidman took the Maia fight on incredibly short notice, won, and then beat Munoz (in my opinion a much better fighter than Boetsch). Costa hasn't had the buzz like Weidman had. Even just a fight or two into his UFC career... fighters and coaches were talking about how incredible Chris was. You still don't hear anything like that about Costa.

It's rumored that Phillipou actually left Serra-Longo because of Weidman. While I haven't heard it 100% confirmed, Weidman did acknowledge in an interview with Helwani last month, that the he may have had a hand in Phillipou leaving. He might have known he wasn't going to get attention with a guy like Weidman in the same camp, fighting in the same division.

None of them had previously failed drugs tests for steroids (Sonnens failed test was a result of his TRT). Steroid use is known to lower natural testosterone production.

Yup. The body is tricked into believing that sufficient levels of natural testosterone are being produced as a result of steroid use, so it decreases the amount produced. It takes a long time for the body to recover and start producing appropriate levels of T after extended steroid use.